Democrat Opposition to Anti Lynching Bill

"Mr. President, the crime of lynching . . . is not of sufficient importance to justify this legislation." -- Sen. Claude Pepper (D., Fla.), 1938, spoken during a six-hour speech against the anti-lynching bill

In 1941, FDR named South Carolina Sen. "Jimmy" Byrnes to the Supreme Court. Byrnes had led filibusters in 1935 and 1938 that killed anti-lynching bills, arguing that lynching was necessary "to hold in check the Negro in the South." FDR refused to back the 1938 anti-lynching law. -Pat Buchanan